After the initial excitement of drawing all the spring flowers as they bloomed, I begin to observe them die off. I secretly like drawing this phase better. The art I create may not be as interesting to look at but I enjoy the lines and shapes. When the wind blows as I’m sketching, I pray it doesn’t knock a dead leaf or two off that I’m drawing at that moment. There is a bit of tension.
Meta
On a recent morning, I woke up to find myself locked out of my Instagram and Facebook accounts. Unbeknownst to me, I was declared underage. That was quite a surprise. Then came one of those weird moments where they said I had to photograph my driver’s license and send it to them using a little camera app they emailed to me. My first thought was, “are these Russian hackers going after me again?” I only went through with it because it only worked if I put in my proper email address and password to enable the app. Luckily, 2 days later Meta restored all my accounts. They even admitted they made a huge mistake. It’s not easy being on these dumb social media platforms. Ugh!
Again
It's beyond depressing that I keep posting this old illustration I did a few dozen massacres ago.
Vegan Life
The Food Network portrays a lovely fairytale about the dead animals on our plates. It all has to do with our different cultures and watching our grandmothers in the kitchen when we were kiddies. The enticing aromas and wooden spoon licking. Never does it deal with the reality of how all those trillions of animals get horrifically raised, mistreated, and then snuffed out so you can eat a plate of mom’s beef stroganoff. We wouldn’t want the honest truth to plunder the TV ratings. One alternative is to buy my new book, “Vegan Art, A Book Of Visual Protest.” It’s much easier to digest the horrors of animal exploitation by looking at illustrations, paintings, cartoons and photographs to get the point across. Over 200 works of art by vegan artists. Available on amazon or check the bookseller of your choice.
My New Book
A first look at the cover of my new book that is coming out in three weeks. I haven’t done enough editorial vegan artwork to fill an entire book by myself. So, I set about convincing 20 of the world’s best vegan artists, whose work speaks about animal welfare as it pertains to food and environmental impact to be part of the book. Thankfully they agreed. There are painters, illustrators, cartoonists, and photographers. I will post more about these mysterious artists and give you sneak peeks in the coming weeks.
Yellow Woman
When I don’t know what to draw, which is rare, I just make my hand move. Something will come to it. Also, I put on Maria Callas quite loudly when I’m stuck. It makes the room feel cinematic while I doodle.
Smoker
This is the second magazine cover I agreed to. I’m having trouble getting people to think of me as manly, so I thought doing this would give me a false perception of machismo. It’s actually effective somehow. You have to hand it to these PR people who steer the phony careers of lunatics like me. Just don’t look behind the curtain.
Covergirl
My modeling agent has been complaining to me that I don’t accept many jobs anymore. She said it’s like pulling teeth to get me to work my magic in front of the camera for a bit of publicity. So I relented and did two cover shoots. This is the first one. The second one, I’ll post in a few days.
Two Tulips
While drawing at the Botanical Gardens, a grandmother stopped and was riveted by my book. She only spoke Chinese, so her teenage granddaughter translated for both of us. She said her grandmother did drawings just like I did. After a lengthy exchange between them, I asked what was up. The granddaughter was laughing and told me her grandma was confused about the angle of my drawing. The granddaughter had to explain to her that my angle was different than what the grandmother was seeing because I was sitting low in a camping stool and grandma was standing up. That mollified the old lady momentarily. They returned ten minutes later. The granddaughter said her grandmother didn’t want to leave me.
Garden Sketchbook
How many flowers can I jam onto a 10.5” X 8” double page spread in my sketchbook? 25.
Bird Flu
“With millions of chickens on commercial poultry farms sickened and dying from a highly virulent strain of avian flu in recent months, it might have escaped notice that some of the nation’s most stunning wild birds have also been felled including more than three dozen bald eagles.” NY Times
Daffodils
This year, the Botanical Gardens planted all types of daffodils. My pal, Stephen Petronis and I sat and drew while pandemic exhausted locals gaped over our shoulders. I gave away a hundred squirrel stickers to onlookers, mostly kids.
Poop
“Every minute, 7 million pounds of excrement are produced by animals raised for food in the United States. 130 times more than human waste.”
Cowspiracy Fact
